What The Nigerian Government does not tell you

Top flour milling executives

from Nigeria visited the United

States in April 2010 to tell the story

of how a partnership between

the U.S. government and wheat

producers has helped them

build the second largest

industry in the West African

nation. U.S. Wheat Associates

(USW), using USDA’s Market

Access Program (MAP)

funding sponsored the trade visit, which includes stops in Washington, DC,

Kansas, and Texas.

Nigeria buys more U.S. hard red winter (HRW) wheat every year than any

other country and will likely be the largest U.S. wheat buyer in the world in 2009/10 (June-May). As much as 90 percent of the wheat milled in Nigeria

is imported from the United States, including hard red spring (HRS), hard

white (HW), durum, and soft red winter (SRW) wheat. Since 2001 when

USW opened a technical service office in Lagos, average annual wheat sales

to Nigeria have doubled from about 1.5 million metric tons (55 million

bushels) to almost 3 million metric tons (110 million bushels), returning

billions of dollars back to the U.S. economy

''Our industry relies on U.S. wheat because it is a very good value and we

can source every type of wheat we need all year long,” said Mr. Debo

Agbonyin, Executive Director, Corporate Services, for BUA International

Flour Mills.

“U.S. wheat has also become a basic ingredient for greater economic

opportunity in Nigeria,” said USW President Alan Tracy. “Doing business in

Nigeria can be difficult, but their milling industry supports thousands of jobs

and is still expanding its capacity. We have supported that growth by helping

these millers introduce new products like pasta, instant noodles, and cookies

into this growing market.”

U.S. wheat producer checkoff funds MAP, Foreign Market

Development (FMD) program, and other USDA programs,

provide in-country USW representation, support trade and

technical service activities, and allow USW to bring trade teams to

the United States to help buyers, technicians, and government

officials understand how to get the most value possible from U.S. wheat.

This Nigerian trade team is unique in that the millers will spend two days in

Washington, DC, meeting with U.S. officials who have jurisdiction over

federal export market development programs. They want to inform those

officials that these programs are a valuable investment.

“Whatever we have achieved, the foundation has been laid by U.S. Wheat

Associates,” said Mr. Tunde Odunayo, Chairman of Honeywell Flour Mills,

Lagos, Nigeria. “We know that USW is funded by farmers and USDA. It is

money well-spent.”

From Washington, the Team traveled to Kansas City, MO, to meet with U.S.

exporters. Stops in Manhattan, KS, and Dallas, TX, managed by the Kansas

Wheat Commission and Texas Wheat Producers Board, put the team in

touch with wheat producers and gave them a chance to get an early look at

the 2010/11 hard red winter wheat crop.